A new campaign for MLC via creative agency Princess and Mark Molloy has launched, looking at a team of daring Aussies finding their way to the perfect retirement.
At the heart of the campaign is The Heist, a cinematic comedy that follows a loveable crew of everyday Australians as they devise an increasingly elaborate scheme so that they can retire happy. There are guards to overcome, cameras to disable, a code hidden in a dog’s collar and a safe full of gold.
The strategy takes aim at a category that has conditioned Australians to think of super as only a big number – something to sit on, forget and deal with later. But a great super company shouldn’t just help consumers get to a big number, it needs to help consumers plan on how to best use and invest their money as they accumulate their super and then throughout their retirement.
The goal is to strategically reframe MLC’s superannuation offering from a static, lump sum of money to a business that also offers an active plan for all of their members.
Renee Howie, chief customer officer at MLC, said: “Super funds have spent decades talking to Australians about the number they might end up with. We want to start a more meaningful conversation about the life that number needs to support.”
“A great retirement doesn’t begin on the day you stop working. It is shaped over a lifetime. Our role at MLC is to help Australians connect what they are doing today with the retirement they want and to give them the plan, partnership and confidence to get there. And that’s what The Heist is really about: showing there’s a much better way to a glorious retirement.”
For Princess, which marks its first anniversary this year, the campaign is its biggest production to date.
The Princess Founders, said: “You know you’re onto something when you’re tripping over yourself in excitement to tell the client. MLC only ever want to see big, brave ideas and they embraced the work from the get go. In our minds, there was only one person who could get on board and make our idea a reality and that was Mark Molloy. He believed in the idea from the moment we first shared it with him, and things only got better from there.”
This marks the first major work from two-time Emmy nominated filmmaker Molloy since globally recognised Adidas Backyard Legends. Alongside Mark, the campaign brings together an exceptional line-up of creative talent from Australia and around the world.
The original score was composed by Elliott Wheeler, award-winning composer and long-time collaborator of Baz Luhrmann. Visual effects were entrusted to FIN Design, one of Australia’s leading VFX studios, whose recent feature film credits include Alien: Romulus and Ant-Man. Sound design and mix come from 750mph, one of the UK’s leading sound studios whose work includes Nike’s Nothing Beats a Londoner, who collaborated with Sonar Music to bring it all together.
Of the campaign, Mark Molloy said: “I’ve worked with the creatives from Princess before, so I knew what kind of ambition I was signing up for. The Heist let us make something fun and cinematic out of a category that rarely gets to be – plus I’ve always wanted to make a classic caper film.”
The hero film spearheads a huge 360 campaign, with 171+ AV assets set to be deployed across the full marketing funnel for MLC over 24 months. This multidimensional approach was intentional from the outset, ensuring that the campaign idea touches every phase of the customer journey, from awareness to acquisition, driving maximum value from the complex production.
Wylie Fowler, GM of brand and content at MLC, said: “Everyone at MLC is deeply proud of this work. It brings our promise to help Australians retire happy to life in a way that is bold, entertaining and unmistakably MLC. Creating a campaign of this scale took enormous care and collaboration across everyone in our combined teams and, of course, a really good plan. Huge thanks to all the world-class and wildly talented people who played their role in bringing it to life.”
Princess Founders, said: “It takes a lot of trust, partnership and courage to make this kind of work. We could never have done it without the team at MLC, Exit, Mark, The Editors, Fin, Sonar, and Elliot our composer, 750mph, Louis & Co and Cream.”
The campaign rolls out across TV, cinema, BVOD/SVOD, OOH, social, online, radio and owned channels.
Credits
Client: MLC Australia
Chief Customer Officer: Renee Howie
GM of Brand and Content: Wylie Fowler
Senior Manager Brand, Advertising and Media: Dennis Poropat
Head of Client and Brand Insights: Tracy Lane
Head of Customer Marketing, MasterTrust: Ana Weaver
Senior Manager Creative Operations: Angela Lemon
Senior Media Activation Manager: Justyna Zawadzka
Senior Content Manager: Caitlin Shennan
Brand Performance Manager: Megan McAuliffe
Agency: Princess A Creative Company
Founders: Beth O’Brien, Cameron Bell, Sam Dickson, Jonny Berger
Chief Strategy Officer: Lilian Sor
Executive Producer: Renata Barbosa
Client Lead: Cece Chieng
Operations Lead: Mez Truong
Design Director: Josh Hart
Head of Studio: Grant Graham
Media: Kaimera
Chief Client Officer: Anna Magliano
Chief Strategy Officer: Max Broer
Client Director: Rachel Evans
Client Manager: Caitlin Walsh
Production Company: EXIT
Director Mark Molloy
Managing Director: Declan Cahill
Managing Partner: Wilf Sweetland
Executive Producer: Leah Churchill-Brown
Producer: Alex Taussig
LP/HOP: Jacquie Riley
Production Manager: Elaine Roy
Production Co-ordinator: Millie Lombardo
Casting: Natalie Harvie
DOP: Sam Chiplin
1st AD: Jeremy Fitzgerald
Production Designer: Steven Jones Evans
Costume Designer: Joanna Mae Park
Key Hair & Make-Up: Yvonne Savage
Stunts: Harry Dakanalis
Post House: The Editors
Editor: Alexandre de Franceschi
Editor: Jack Hutchings
Editor Assistant: Rosie Byrne
Post Producer: Nicoletta Rousianos
VFX: FIN Design & Effects
VFX Supervisor: Mikey Brown
Flame Artist: Jacob Street
Executive Producer: Emily Newbould
Colourist: Fergus Rotherham
Photographer: Ian Butterworth
Production Company: Louis & Co
Producer: Luke Della Santa
Post-Production/Retouching: Cream
Executive Music Director: Elliott Wheeler
Executive Music Producer: Emma Hoy
Composition and Arrangement: Scott Langley
Score Mixer: Evan McHugh
